Thanks, Goblin, for the welcome back.I've been 'absent without...

Thanks, Goblin, for the welcome back.

I've been 'absent without leave' (from here)
trying to talk some sense into the denizens
of Hot Copper's politics site. (vbg!)

But sharing those steam clips with you
revived several happy memories of my
youth when steam trains were used.

One such memory was how (when I was
escaping the confines of Melbourne) to
gallop across the wide Wimmera plains
at Longeranong Agricultural College.

After the train left Melbourne, it sped
across flat country UNTIL it had to
doggedly climb up a steep cutting
to get up on to a plateau where it
would speed up again.

When it was in the cutting, I would
open the last door before the
engine (with a pocket-kinife)
and stand outside to allow
the laboring sound to echo
off the cutting walls and
cleanse my head of
Melbourne so great
was my need NOT
to be in the city.

This clip revived that happy memory: